Fossils
WHS where fossils are part of the OUV.
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Anticosti | "Anticosti is the best natural laboratory in the world for the study of fossils and sedimentary strata from the first mass extinction of life, at the end of the Ordovician period" (Crit viii) | |
| Atapuerca | The fossil remains in the Sierra de Atapuerca constitute an exceptional reserve of information about the physical nature and the way of life of the earliest human communities in Europe. (OUV, crit v) | |
| Australian Fossil Mammal Sites | These fossil deposits are outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life. (OUV, crit viii, ix) | |
| Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks | The Burgess Shale is one of the most significant fossil areas in the world. Exquisitely preserved fossils record a diverse, abundant marine community dominated by soft-bodied organisms (OUV, crit viii) | |
| Chengjiang Fossil Site | The property displays excellent quality of fossil preservation including the soft and hard tissues of animals with hard skeletons, along with a wide array of organisms that were entirely soft-bodied, and therefore relatively unrepresented in the fossil record. (OUV, crit viii) | |
| Dinosaur Provincial Park | Dinosaur Provincial Park contains some of the most important fossil specimens discovered from the "Age of Dinosaurs" period of Earth's history. The property is outstanding in the number and variety of high quality specimens representing every known group of Cretaceous dinosaurs. (OUV, crit viii) | |
| Dorset and East Devon Coast | The property includes a range of globally significant fossil localities - both vertebrate and invertebrate, marine and terrestrial - which have produced well preserved and diverse evidence of life during Mesozoic times. (crit viii) | |
| Evaporitic Karst and Caves | "The older evaporite rocks (Upper Triassic) of the nominated property are virtually devoid of fossil remains, but the younger gypsum rocks (Latest Miocene) retain a very important paleontological significance" (fish, plants, auroch,giant deer, wolverine, cave hyaena etc) (nom file) | |
| Fossil Hominid Sites | Fossils found in the many archaeological caves of the Makapan Valley have enabled the identification of several specimens of early hominids. .... Alongside and predating the hominid period of occupation is a sequence of fossil mammals, micro-mammals and invertebrates which provide a window onto faunal evolution, palaeobiology and palaeoecology stretching back into the Pliocene. (OUV) | |
| Grand Canyon | The Precambrian and Paleozoic portions of this record are particularly well exposed in canyon walls and include a rich fossil assemblage. Numerous caves shelter fossils and animal remains that extend the paleontological record into the Pleistocene. (crit viii) | |
| Ichkeul National Park | "The site has internationally important fossil deposits including late Tertiary and early Quaternary outcrops on the northern shore (Arambourg et Arnould, 1949). The Pleistocene (Villafranchian) deposits include numerous unique assemblages of fossil mammal remains most notable of which are the hominid and primate records. Other identified fossil bones include Elaphas planifrons, Stylohipparion libycum, Libytherium maurusium, Anacus osiris, Testudo gigans and T. emys" | |
| Ischigualasto / Talampaya | No other place in the world has a fossil record comparable to that of Ischigualasto-Talampaya which reveals the evolution of vertebrate life and the nature of palaeoenvironments in the Triassic Period. (OUV, crit viii) | |
| Joggins Fossil Cliffs | The “grand exposure” of rocks at Joggins Fossil Cliffs contains the best and most complete known fossil record of terrestrial life in the iconic “Coal Age”: the Pennsylvanian (or Carboniferous) period in Earth’s history. (Crit viii) | |
| Lake Turkana | The geology and fossil record represents major stages of earth history including records of life represented by hominid discoveries (OUV) | |
| Lena Pillars | the property preserves an exceptionally continuous, fully documented, and rich record of the diversification of skeletal animals and other biomineralised organisms from their first appearance until the first mass extinction event they suffered. The Lena Pillars include among the earliest and the largest, in both temporal and spatial senses, fossil metazoan reef of the Cambrian world. (crit viii) | |
| Lenggong Valley | fossil hominids | |
| Lower Valley of the Awash | The evidence of hominid and animal fossil remains discovered in the Lower Awash Valley testify to developments in human evolution that have modified views of the history of mankind as a whole. (OUV, crit ii) | |
| Lower Valley of the Omo | "have produced numerous hominid and animal fossils, including fragments of Australopithecus" (OUV) | |
| Melka Kunture and Balchit | Crit iii: "Hominin fossils of Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis and archaic Homo sapiens discovered" | |
| Messel Pit | The Messel Pit fossil site demonstrates a vital and explosive evolution of mammals that mainly occurred during the Eocene. Few high quality sites are known to provide the opportunity to study this process, and at none of these sites are the fossils so outstandingly preserved or their habitats so extensively reconstructible in a wide variety of biotopes. (OUV, crit viii) | |
| Miguasha National Park | In its representation of vertebrate life, Miguasha is the most outstanding fossil site in the world for illustrating the Devonian as the 'Age of Fishes'. (OUV, crit viii) | |
| Mistaken Point | According to the comparative analysis in the AB ev: Mistaken Point was ranked first overall, and ranked first (or tied first) in six criteria: fossil abundance, fossil quality, thickness of fossiliferous strata, age of the oldest fossils, degree of site investigation and permanence | |
| Monte San Giorgio | Monte San Giorgio is the single best known record of marine life in the Triassic period, and records important remains of life on land as well. The property has produced diverse and numerous fossils, many of which show exceptional completeness and detailed preservation. (OUV, crit viii) | |
| Mount Carmel Caves | Located in one of the best preserved fossilised reefs of the Mediterranean region, the site contains cultural deposits representing half a million years of human evolution from the Lower Palaeolithic to the present. (OUV) | |
| Ngorongoro | Although the interpretation of many of the assemblages of Olduvai Gorge is still debatable, their extent and density are remarkable. Several of the type fossils in the hominin lineage come from this site. (OUV, crit iv) | |
| Peking Man Site | So far, ancient human fossils, cultural remains and animal fossils from 23 localities within the property dating from 5 million years ago to 10,000 years ago have been discovered by scientists. (OUV) | |
| Sangiran Early Man Site | ... illustrates the development of Homo sapiens sapiens from the Lower Pleistocene to the present through the outstanding fossil and artefactual material that it has produced. (OUV) | |
| Stevns Klint | coastline with fossil bearing Cliffs (AB ev) | |
| Wadi Al-Hitan | The globally important fossils of Wadi Al-Hitan (Whale Valley), in the Western Desert of Egypt, provide dramatic evidence of one of the iconic stories of evolution: the emergence of whales as ocean-going mammals, from their previous life as land-based animals. (OUV) | |
| Willandra Lakes | The fossil remains of a series of lakes and sand formations that date from the Pleistocene can be found in this region, together with archaeological evidence of human occupation dating from 45-60,000 years ago. .... Several well-preserved fossils of giant marsupials have also been found here. (OUV) | |
| Yellowstone | Nearly 150 species of fossil plants, ranging from small ferns and rushes up to large Sequoia and many other tree species, have been identified in the park’s abundant fossil deposits. (crit viii) |
Suggestions?
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